Ledbury travelled to Wednesbury for this RFU Junior Cup first round tie a few players short of their full first team.

WEDNESBURY 15pts, LEDBURY 7pts

Despite this they still began well challenging the larger home pack in the set pieces and when Will Delamore, who was playing his first game of the season after a serious foot injury, broke clear Alan Hallam was close in support to score under the posts.

Wednesbury were allowed back in with a scrappy try.

Leading 5-7 at the turn round Steve Wheeler who had been receiving a few flying lessons at tight head was substituted by Shannon Dick. The scrummage settled down quickly and a more confident Ledbury began to build up the pressure on the Wednesbury line. Eventually Henry Blandford was stopped inches from the line, however the frantic home defence caused an appalling clash of heads resulting in a broken jaw for one of the Wednesbury players and play was suspended for 40 minutes.

This was the turning point of the match because Ledbury never really got back into the game whereas Wednesbury did with a simple kick and chase try which was awarded despite the fact that Henry Blandford had been pushed aside. Ledbury however had no one to blame except themselves as their poor concentration saw them miss important tackles. The final nail in the Ledbury coffin was a superbly executed try from the Wednesbury backs to seal a 15-7 victory for the home side.

Tomorrow (Saturday) Ledbury play their opening League game at home to Berkswell & Balsall (3pm).